Neighbors (EP) by Matt Haimovitz (featuring Stephanie Arado, Matthew Mehaffey, the University of Minnesota Chamber Singers and Uccello) offers more than a musical programme—it sends a powerful message of freedom and democracy in the face of the ICE’s arbitrary tyranny.
Pizzicato in a five start review describes the EP as opening with an enriching arrangement of Ernest Bloch’s “Prayer” from the Suite of Jewish Life, set under the motto “Time to be brave”, performed by Arado, Haimovitz and the University of Minnesota Chamber Singers under Matthew Mehaffey.
The EP continues with Julius Klengel’s Hymn for 12 Cellos, played by Haimovitz and his students with deep emotional resonance—expressive, but avoiding pathos, and offering “a touch of hope.”
A jazz-infused vocal centerpiece, “I am Spirit,” celebrates the spirit of resistance in Minneapolis, speaking to dignity, suffering and pain that love cannot erase—“I am spirit, whose love awakens, / Whose love infuses the center of me.”
Read the full review here.
Neighbors (EP) is available now on PENTATONE.
